Candidates to head the new Regional Transit Authority, from left: Albert Martin, Brian Marshall and Michael Ford.

The next CEO of the fledgling Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan must navigate metro Detroit and Lansing's often inscrutable political universe while also captaining the effort to persuade voters in four counties to approve a new transit tax in 2016.

Oh, and the new CEO also must persuade four transportation agencies that jealously guard their money and autonomy to play nicely together.

The RTA's nine-member board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the organization's next top executive from a pool of three finalists winnowed by a committee last Friday from a batch of seven applicants.

Whoever is chosen will lead a transit agency for Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties that took more than 40 years to successfully create.

The three finalists are:

• Albert Martin, former director of the Detroit Department of Transportation and the Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority (the forerunner to the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) bus systems, and a former deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

• Michael Ford, CEO of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority since 2009, and a transit consultant before that.

• Brian Marshall, a transit consultant who resigned as CEO of the Capital Area Transit System in Baton Rouge, La., after five years in April 2013; he spent 20 years with the Chicago Transit Authority prior to that.

All three candidates have familiarity with the local political and transportation culture, have run transit agencies, and have experience with transit funding efforts, which are three of the leading criteria set by the RTA board for its hire.

The candidates were not at Friday's RTA executive and policy committee meeting. A message was left for Ford; Crain's did not have contact information for Martin and Marshall.

The RTA CEO reports to the nine-member board and has overall responsibility for all aspects of RTA administration and operations.

The authority was created by the state in 2012 to coordinate various transit agencies in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties.

All federal and state funding for DDOT, SMART, AATA and the Detroit Transportation Corp. (better known as The People Mover) goes through the RTA, which approves grants and the operating and capital plans for those agencies.

Filling the job

As regional transit evolves and Detroit's M-1 Rail streetcar and other non-bus systems are created, it will be vital to have a CEO with multi-modal transit experience, said Megan Owens, executive director of Detroit-based Transportation Riders United, an organization dedicated to improving and promoting transportation access and mobility in the Detroit area.

"Someone that can handle a combined system is important, and understands importance of working with wide range of people," she said.

Liz Gerber

Liz Gerber, an RTA board member from Washtenaw County, expressed confidence Friday in the batch of finalists.

"I think the three will give us some contrast (in interviews)," she said. "Which of their different strengths and skills is a priority?"

This is the RTA's second attempt to hire a CEO.

The job was accepted by SMART CEO John Hertel last year, but he stepped away in January because the organization still had no money for staff. Hertel, a longtime figure in mass transit, continued to run SMART while working without a contract at the RTA.

The RTA is awaiting word on $2 million in operational funding in the state budget. The Senate budget has the money, but the House version does not, and the RTA board members have been issued talking points to lobby lawmakers for the money. The state's fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Down the road

The RTA CEO is a key figure in the region's transportation situation, especially as officials suggest DDOT perhaps be absorbed by the authority amid Detroit's bankruptcy — something that would require a unanimous RTA board vote before a referendum in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties.

DDOT's retiree pension and health care obligations — numbers weren't immediately available Friday — for decades have worried transit insiders and fueled language in the RTA enabling legislation that creates a high bar for it to absorb another transit agency.

To take over DDOT rather than just provide funding supervision would require a unanimous RTA board vote, and then voter approval in the four counties — no simple task in a region traditionally bereft of cooperation.

While Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has suggested merging DDOT into the RTA as a cost-saving measure to be explored, it would be years down the road and there haven't even been preliminary talks about it, said RTA Chairman Paul Hillegonds.

Conan Smith

Conan Smith, a Washtenaw County commissioner and executive director of the nonprofit Michigan Suburbs Alliance, is skeptical of the RTA absorbing the local transit agencies.

"Our goal shouldn't be the RTAs takeover of DDOT or SMART or AATA, but rather the smooth integration and coordination of those systems," he said. "If ultimately the data shows that we can best serve the public through the merger of these systems, so be it, but at least for now that seems unlikely and inappropriate."

It comes down to money and local control, Smith said.

"Dense urban areas like Detroit and Ann Arbor are going to need and use more-intense public transportation services," he said. "The funding support for those are likely to be local, either through local taxation or fare box revenues. Regional revenue streams are likely to be insufficient to support the levels of service urban denizens desire."

The RTA is better aimed at managing cooperation, Smith said.

"Some of the current responsibilities of our local providers might be appropriately transferred to the RTA, like intercity and long-haul corridor route, but I foresee a need and a desire for good local agencies long into our future," he said.

There has been some back-channel talk about the Detroit Transportation Corp., which has its own board and is a separate city corporation rather than agency, taking over DDOT, but no official proposals.

The interviews

Two of the three finalists are familiar to the RTA board: Martin was interviewed by the board last year before it hired Hertel, and Marshall also was an applicant last year, but wasn't interviewed.

The interviews, which are open to the public and will include time for comment, will begin at noon Wednesday at the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments office at 1001 Woodward Ave. The RTA has been operating out of SEMCOG's headquarters, and using its staff, until it gets its own funding established. SEMCOG is the area's regional transportation planning agency.

There is no scheduled date to have a CEO hired, but SEMCOG Deputy Executive Director Carmine Palombo said the expectation is that a deal isn't expected to take long to work out.

A specific salary hasn't been set, Palombo said, but the RTA has earmarked $930,000 for staffing.

Albert Martin

Martin's resume, as provided by the RTA, shows he has worked as a consultant for transit and other industries. He also was director of labor relations for Southfield public schools from 2001-05.

He ran DDOT from 1994 to 2000, and worked at the Michigan Department of Transportation from 1991-93.

He was general manager of the suburban bus system from 1984-1991, and was its human resources director since 1980.

From 1973 to 1980, Martin was an industrial relations analyst with Ford Motor Co. He began his career with Economic Opportunity Atlanta Inc. in 1965.

Brian Marshall

Marshall resigned as CEO from Baton Rouge's public transit system in April 2013 amid public criticism of the Capital Area Transit System's performance, according to that city's The Advocate newspaper.

In a resignation letter, Marshall wrote that "the current environment is not conducive to building a sustainable system," the newspaper reported. He defended his record as CEO, citing an increased number of routes, additional buses and shorter wait times, the paper said.

Marshall wants to discuss the Baton Rouge situation during his interview, Palombo said.

Marshall was at Chicago's bus system from 1989 to 2009, working up from the management training department to oversight of bus operations and service management. He worked in marketing and political consulting prior to that.

Michael Ford

Ford was hired from a pool of 60 candidates in 2009 to run Ann Arbor's transportation system. The job had been vacant for two years.

He was running his own company, Camas, Wash.-based MG Ford Consulting, when he was hired.

Prior to that, Ford was COO and assistant general manager of the San Joaquin Regional Transit District in Stockton, Calif., from 2007-08, and held a variety of management roles at the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District in Portland, Ore., from 2002-07.

He was director of operations and maintenance for Community Transit in Everett, Wash., from 1991-2001, and worked at Greyhound Lines Inc. as a manager from 1983-1991.

As head of the AATA, Ford has worked with the RTA because the authority has increasing amounts of financial oversight of the major local transit agencies.

Other candidates

Among the other applicants were 36th District Court Judge Donald Coleman; Neil Greenberg, a former SMART and AATA employee who is editorial director of Santa Barbara, Calif.-based transportation information design firm CHK America; Taiwo "Ty" Jaiyeoba, a transit principal at Atlanta-based HDR Engineering Inc. who has worked in the transportation agencies in Grand Rapids and Sacramento, Calif.; and Todd Pappas, who worked in a variety of logistics roles.

One CEO applicant, Marie Donigan, withdrew Thursday night, Palumbo said. No reason was given. She's a former state representative, transit advocate and partner at Royal Oak-based Donigan McLogan Consultants LLC.

Donigan is one of the organizers of the Metro Coalition of Congregations of the Harriet Tubman Center's RTA summit focused on jobs and economics scheduled for June 4 at the Detroit Zoo.